(PAST IMPERFECT)

Company Picnic

I took the kids to the company picnic yesterday. Thirty-thousand geeks, 3 days in July, 1 farm nestled in the foothills of the Cascade mountains: Big fun.

The afternoon started off with motorcycle daredevils on a twenty foot ramp.

The sky grew dark, but no daredevils were lost.

The children were impressed.

In boot-camp, they said the smoking lamp was lit and it meant you could have a cigarette whenever you wanted to light up. The first time I heard it, I wanted to know where this lamp was. I wanted to keep my eye on it. On the way to the park, I told the kids that if they ate a good lunch, the soda lamp was lit for the rest of the afternoon. Both their eyes got big as cans of pop. Neither asked to see the actual lamp.